The green transformation of the shipbuilding market accelerates, and alternative fuels become the mainstream

Driven by the wave of green ship transformation, alternative fuels are gradually becoming the mainstream choice for the new shipbuilding market.

According to the latest statistics from Clarkson, among the 788 new ship orders of 45.6 million gross tonnes from January to July this year, as many as 281 ships with a total of 25.9 million gross tonnes were alternative fuel ships, accounting for 57%, exceeding 46% of the whole year last year and higher than the 54.6% record set in 2022. Calculated by order value, global new shipbuilding investment from January to July this year totaled US$78.5 billion, and alternative fuel ship orders were worth US$45.8 billion (approximately RMB 327.54 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 31%, accounting for 58.3%.

This year's alternative fuel ship orders include 129 LNG-powered ships, 18.4 million gross tonnes, 53 methanol-powered ships, 6.1 million gross tonnes, 14 LPG-powered ships, 600,000 gross tonnes, 4 ethane-powered ships, 100,000 gross tonnes, and 86 battery/hybrid propulsion ships, 1.2 million gross tonnes.

In recent years, the proportion of alternative fuel ships in new ship orders has been rising, from only 8.2% in 2016 to 32% in 2021, and reached a historical high of 54.6% in 2022. After falling to 41% in 2023, it returned to 46% in 2024.

In terms of shipyard countries, Clarkson's data shows that most of the orders for new alternative fuel ships in July 2025 were taken over by Chinese shipyards, with a total of 17 ships of 942,000 CGT, accounting for 81.1% of the orders for new alternative fuel ships in July 2025, ranking first in the world in terms of orders. Among them, there are 13 LNG dual-fuel ships with 874,000 CGT, 2 ammonia dual-fuel ships with 47,000 CGT, and 2 battery/hybrid ships with 22,000 CGT.

At the same time, South Korean shipyards received a total of 2 42,000 CGT alternative fuel orders in July, with a market share of 3.6%. Among them, two LNG dual-fuel ships have 42,000 CGT.

According to Clarkson, overall, the proportion of ships that can use alternative fuel or propulsion devices in the operating fleet has increased to 8.6% so far, up from 2.6% in 2017 and 6.5% in early 2024. Among the existing 2509 alternative fuel ships, 1449 LNG-powered ships, 72 methanol-powered ships, 143 LPG-powered ships, 732 battery/hybrid propulsion ships, and 268 other fuels are used.

Among handheld orders, the proportion of alternative fuel ships reached 52.4%, higher than 10.9% in 2017 and 48.6% in early 2024. Calculated by tonnage, 36.9% of the handheld orders are LNG-powered ships (1,003), 10.4% are methanol-powered ships (340), and 2.0% are LPG-powered ships (141); in addition, about 3.1% (about 550) use other alternative fuels, including 38 hydrogen fuels, 64 ethane fuels, 43 ammonia fuels, 18 biofuels and 515 battery/hybrid propulsion ships, with a total of 2,034 handheld orders for alternative fuel ships.

As fuel options continue to expand in the future, the number of alternative fuel reserved ships is also increasing. Currently, 601 ships in the operating fleet are LNG-ready ships, and 198 handheld orders are still available; at the same time, 319 ammonia-ready ships, 671 methanol-ready ships and 15 hydrogen fuel reserved ships are available in the handheld orders.

Meanwhile, the latest statistics from DNV’s Alternative Fuel Insights (AFI) data platform pointed out that there were 28 new ship orders for alternative fuel ships in July this year, a significant increase from 19 in June. Among them, the number of LNG powered ships has the largest order, reaching 22, including 19-speed container ships, 2 oil tankers and 1 scientific research ship; the orders for methanol powered ships are 3, including 2 bulk carriers and 1 offshore worker ship.

In addition, there were three ammonia fuel ship orders in July, including two ammonia fuel liquefied gas ships and one ammonia fuel filler ship. Although ammonia fuel is still in its early stages of development, the addition of the refueling vessels indicates that the supportive infrastructure is beginning to take shape, which may pave the way for wider applications in the coming years.

Jason Stefanatos, DNV Maritime Global Decarbonization Director, said: "The July data confirms the trend observed in the first half of this year, and the alternative fuel ship market shows resilience. Shipowners are not only conducting trials, but also investing in scalable and standardized solutions. Orders for the first ammonia fuel recharge vessel show that support infrastructure is beginning to match the long-term fuel strategy. Combining the ongoing LNG and methanol recharge vessel activity, this shows that the industry is actively preparing for future demand growth." (International Marine Network)

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